The Distributed Solar Policies That Defined 2018

Last year got off to a difficult start for U.S. solar, when in January the Trump administration announced tariffs on solar cells and modules that the industry had awaited in angst for months.

All told, the impacts of that policy ended up being relatively modest compared to the industry’s worst fears. And after the lead-up to the announcement, state solar policy ended up defining 2018 more than federal actions.

A new report focusing on distributed solar from the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center notes that even as solar growth remained relatively flat in 2018, state policy actions continued to increase from past years. NC Clean Energy catalogued 264 actions in 2018, compared to 249 actions in 2017, 212 actions in 2016 and 175 actions in 2015.

The only states that didn’t initiate any policies in the areas NC Clean Energy tracked in 2018 were Alaska, Wyoming and Georgia.